Playing with Pebeo Paints

You may have heard about the new Pebeo paints.  They're unique in that they retract, distend and intertwine to create unique and interesting designs.  I decided I needed to give them a try. These paints are very compatible with polymer, so I didn't need to prepare the clay in any special way.  There are 2 types that interact, Fantasy Prisme and Fantasy Moon.  The Prisme paint makes interesting bubbles and swirls while the Moon paint makes a more linear design.  I made a couple of different sets, one with narrow borders and white bases wrapped in black.  The other set had thicker borders that matched the background of the base.  The set at the left shows a mixture of both the Prisme and Moon paints. The pendant in the silver frame is all Prisme.  The pendant in copper is all Moon, and the pendant in the gold frame is a combination of the two.    As you can see, the results are really different, and very interesting.

The pendants in the photo below were all done with Prisme paints.  I swirled the paints in the two larger pieces in the back and left the paint to just "do its thing" on the pieces in the front.  It's fun to watch the paints shift and move.  A certain amount of control is possible on terms of placing colors in various spots, but the movement of the paint still seems to be to some degree independent of what you do.

Bargello as Embellishment

Hello and Welcome to 2019!  I do hope this year brings good things your way. I also hope you have a chance to stretch your creativity "wings", and have fun playing with polymer or whatever medium you enjoy the most.




As I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago, I have just begun exploring bargello from a different angle than is usual.  I'm calling it "bargello as embellishment" and I really like both the process and the end result.  Using the bargello zig-zag pattern, the hills and valleys of different levels of clay, and slicing the layers quite thin, I can take a really unique and interesting approach to decorating flat polymer sheets.






The various pieces posted here are all pendants.  The bargello embellishment adds a 3-D aspect that is appealing to the eye and to touch.  Some of these pendants have bails ready for a chain while others are still waiting some form of wire, beading or chain to make them wearable.

I have to admit that one of the things I find most tedious is adding some form of findings to finish a piece.  I love the creative aspect of making the surface sheet, design or embellishment, and "setting" the piece through baking. Then I just sort of wish a chain or other method of making the piece wearable would materialize on its own.





I don't know if other jewelry artists feel that way or not.   For me, the best part is when the clay emerges from the oven and it looks just the the way I envisioned.

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